The good news for the Ottawa Senators is that Guillaume Latendresse will finally be back in the lineup Monday against the Boston Bruins, after missing the past 18 games with migraines and whiplash-related problems.
A few games back, Senators winger Erik Condra joked that when a long shootout comes, coach Paul MacLean simply puts all the players’ names in a hat, closes his eyes and picks out those who will get a chance to shoot.
Paul MacLean didn’t pretend otherwise.
He knew goaltender Ben Bishop stole two points for the Ottawa Senators in Monday’s 2-1 shootout victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
Now more than one-third of the way through the Ottawa Senators’ shortened season, the numbers are staggering. Consider the following: The combined salaries of the team’s injured players – Jason Spezza, Erik Karlsson, Milan Michalek, Guillaume Latendresse and Peter Regin – is a whopping $20.663 million, according to capgeek.com. That works out to 39 per cent of the Senators payroll of $53.553 million.
After sitting out Saturday for only the second time in a dozen games this season, Craig Anderson will be back in goal for the Ottawa Senators Tuesday against the Buffalo Sabres,
Being a back-up allowed him the time to think about a lot of different things, but he insists being part of the United States team at the 2014 Sochi Olympics wasn’t one of them.
Of course, it wasn’t going to be easy. While the Ottawa Senators kicked off their four-game homestand by knocking off the Buffalo Sabres Tuesday, they needed to dive in front of pucks in the final seconds – and they received a lucky bounce or two — to preserve a victory which seemed to be well in hand when they led 4-1 in the second period.